BBC ON THIS DAY | 11 | 1975: Tories choose first woman leader 1975: Tories choose first woman leader The British Conservative Party has chosen Margaret Thatcher as its new leader. She will be the first woman to head a British political party after a landslide victory over the other four - male - candidates. Mrs Thatcher - who served as Secretary of State for Science and Education in Ted Heath's Government - exclaimed "It's like a dream." The MP for Finchley, north London, since 1959 rejected suggestions of great celebrations. It's like a dream Margaret Thatcher She said: "Good heavens, no. There's far too much work to be done." Mrs Thatcher, 50, forced Ted Heath to resign as leader last week when she trounced him in the first round of the leadership race with 130 votes to his 119. Conservative Party confidence in Mr Heath - prime minister from 1970 to 1974 - was rattled by his failure to win general elections in both February and October last year.

Chairman of the influential 1922 Backbench Committee - whose 276 members are largely responsible for deciding party leaders - Edward du Cann, told BBC Television: "We have a new and rather exciting leader. Mrs Thatcher will make the Tory Party distinctive." At a press conference at the House of Commons the new leader thanked her campaign team and looked forward to retaining Ted Heath and other members of the current Shadow Cabinet, though probably not in the same jobs. Mrs Thatcher - a mother of twins married to Denis, an oil executive - put in a brief appearance at a party in Pimlico before having a working dinner with Conservative Chief Whip Humphrey Atkins in Westminster. Former Northern Ireland Minister Willie Whitelaw was her closest challenger, but still only gained 79 votes in comparison to the 146 she polled in the second ballot of the contest. The other candidates were Sir Geoffrey Howe, QC, and Mr Prior who each received 19 votes and John Peyton trailed in last with just 11 votes.

BBC News - Obituary: Margaret Thatcher Obituary: Margaret Thatcher Margaret Thatcher became the first female prime minister in 1979 Margaret Thatcher, who has died following a stroke, was one of the most influential political figures of the 20th Century. Her legacy had a profound effect upon the policies of her successors, both Conservative and Labour, while her radical and sometimes confrontational approach defined her 11-year period at No 10. Her term in office saw thousands of ordinary voters gaining a stake in society, buying their council houses and eagerly snapping up shares in the newly privatised industries such as British Gas and BT. But her rejection of consensus politics made her a divisive figure and opposition to her policies and her style of government led eventually to rebellion inside her party and unrest on the streets. Father's influence Margaret Hilda Thatcher was born on 13 October 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, the daughter of Alfred Roberts, a grocer, and his wife, Beatrice. Archive: Arriving at Downing Street in 1979 Her father, a Methodist lay preacher and local councillor, had an immense influence on her life and the policies she would adopt.

"Well, of course, I just owe almost everything to my own father. I really do," she said later. "He brought me up to believe all the things that I do believe." She studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and became only the third female president of the Oxford University Conservative Association. After graduating she moved to Colchester where she worked for a plastics company and became involved with the local Conservative Party organisation. In 1949, she was adopted as the prospective Conservative candidate for the seat of Dartford in Kent which she fought, unsuccessfully, in the 1950 and 1951 general elections. However, she made a significant dent in the Labour majority and, as the then youngest ever Conservative candidate, attracted a lot of media attention. In 1951 she married a divorced businessman, Denis Thatcher, and began studying for the Bar exams. She qualified as a barrister in 1953, the year in which her twins Mark and Carol were born. She tried, unsuccessfully, to gain selection as a candidate in 1955, but finally entered Parliament for the safe Conservative seat of Finchley at the 1959 general election.

Within two years she had been appointed as a junior minister and, following the Conservative defeat in 1964, was promoted to the shadow cabinet. 'Milk snatcher' When Sir Alec Douglas-Home stood down as Conservative leader, Mrs Thatcher voted for Ted Heath in the 1965 leadership election and was rewarded with a post as spokeswoman on housing and land. She campaigned vigorously for the right of council tenants to buy their houses and was a constant critic of Labour's policy of high taxation. She initially worked as a research chemist before training as a barrister When Ted Heath entered Downing Street in 1970, she was promoted to the cabinet as education secretary with a brief to implement spending cuts in her department. One of these resulted in the withdrawal of free school milk for children aged between seven and 11 which led to bitter attacks from Labour and a press campaign which dubbed her "Margaret Thatcher, milk snatcher". She herself had argued in cabinet against the removal of free milk. She later wrote: "I learned a valuable lesson.

I had incurred the maximum of political odium for the minimum of political benefit." As one of the few high-flying women in politics there was, inevitably, talk of the possibility that she might, one day, become prime minister. Similar press speculation surrounded the Labour minister Shirley Williams. Margaret Thatcher dismissed the idea. In a TV interview she said she did not believe that there would be a woman prime minister in her lifetime. The Heath government was not to last. Battered by the 1973 oil crisis, forced to impose a three-day working week and facing a miners' strike, Edward Heath's administration finally collapsed in February 1974. Housewife-politician Thatcher became shadow environment secretary but, angered by what she saw as Heath's U-turns on Conservative economic policy, stood against him for the Tory leadership in 1975. When she went into Heath's office to tell him her decision, he did not even bother to look up. "You'll lose," he said.

"Good day to you." She entered Downing St in 1979 with a mission to shrink the state and repair the country's finances To everyone's surprise, she defeated Heath on the first ballot, forcing his resignation, and she saw off Willie Whitelaw on the second ballot to become the first woman to lead a major British political party. She quickly began to make her mark. A 1976 speech criticising the repressive policies of the Soviet Union led to a Russian newspaper dubbing her "the Iron Lady," a title which gave her much personal pleasure. Adopting the persona of a housewife-politician who knew what inflation meant to ordinary families, she challenged the power of the trades unions whose almost constant industrial action peaked in the so-called "winter of discontent" in 1979. As the Callaghan government tottered, the Conservatives rolled out a poster campaign showing a queue of supposedly unemployed people under the slogan "Labour Isn't Working". Jim Callaghan lost a vote of confidence on 28 March 1979. Mrs Thatcher's no-nonsense views struck a chord with many voters and the Conservatives won the ensuing general election.

Monetary policies As prime minister, she was determined to repair the country's finances by reducing the role of the state and boosting the free market. Cutting inflation was central to the government's purpose and it soon introduced a radical budget of tax and spending cuts. You turn if you want to... the lady's not for turning” End Quote To the 1980 Tory conference Bills were introduced to curb union militancy, privatise state industries and allow council home owners to buy their houses. Millions of people who previously had little or no stake in the economy found themselves being able to own their houses and buy shares in the former state-owned businesses. New monetary policies made the City of London one of the most vibrant and successful financial centres in the world. Old-style manufacturing, which critics complained was creating an industrial wasteland, was run down in the quest for a competitive new Britain. Unemployment rose above three million. There was considerable unrest among the so called "wets" on the Conservative back benches and that, coupled with riots in some inner city areas, saw pressure on Margaret Thatcher to modify her policies. But the prime minister refused to crumble.

She told the 1980 party conference: "To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catch phrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say. You turn if you want to... the lady's not for turning." Falklands War By late 1981 her approval rating had fallen to 25%, the lowest recorded for any prime minister until that time, but the economic corner had been turned. In early 1982 the economy began to recover and, with it, the prime minister's standing among the electorate. Her popularity received its biggest boost in April 1982 with her decisive response to the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. The prime minister immediately despatched a naval task force and the islands were retaken on 14 June when the Argentine forces surrendered. Victory in the Falklands, together with disarray in the Labour Party, now led by Michael Foot, ensured a Conservative landslide in the 1983 election. The following spring the National Union of Mineworkers called a nationwide strike, despite the failure of their firebrand president, Arthur Scargill, to ballot his members. Margaret Thatcher was determined not to falter.

Unlike the situation Edward Heath faced in 1973, the government had built up substantial stocks of coal at power stations in advance of the industrial action. Third term There were brutal clashes between pickets and police but the strike eventually collapsed the following March. Many mining communities never recovered from the dispute that hastened the decline of the coal industry. In Northern Ireland, Mrs Thatcher faced down IRA hunger strikers, though her hard-line approach infuriated even moderate nationalist opinion and critics claimed it drove many young Catholics towards the path of violence. She narrowly escaped death in an IRA attack on her Brighton hotel in 1984 Although she attempted to ease sectarian tensions, offering Dublin a role, peace efforts collapsed beneath the weight of Unionist opposition. In October 1984, an IRA bomb exploded in the Conservative conference hotel in Brighton. Five people died and many others, including cabinet minister Norman Tebbit, were seriously injured. Characteristically, the prime minister insisted on delivering a typically robust response in her keynote conference speech a few hours later. "This attack has failed. All attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail." Her foreign policy was aimed at building up the profile of the UK abroad, something she believed had been allowed to decline under previous Labour administrations.

She found a soulmate in the US president, Ronald Reagan, who shared many of her economic views, and she struck up an unlikely alliance with Mikhail Gorbachev, the reforming Soviet president. "We can do business together," she famously said. Labour, now led by Neil Kinnock, had still not recovered from years of in-fighting and Mrs Thatcher won an unprecedented third term at the 1987 general election. One of her first actions was to introduce the poll tax or community charge, a flat-rate tax for local services which was based on individuals rather than the value of the property in which they lived. 'Treachery with a smile' It sparked some of the worst street violence in living memory. Tory MPs, alarmed that the tax could cost them their seats, saw no way of getting rid of it so long as Margaret Thatcher was in charge. She easily survived a leadership challenge from an unknown back-bencher in 1989 but the challenge was just a symptom of increasing dissatisfaction among Conservative MPs over her policies. It was the issue of Europe which, eventually, brought about her downfall.

Returning from a fractious Euro summit in Rome, she let rip against her European counterparts, refusing to countenance any increase in the power of the European Community and outraging many colleagues. She shed tears upon leaving office in 1990 "The President of the Commission, Monsieur Delors, said at a press conference the other day that he wanted the European Parliament to be the democratic body of the Community, he wanted the Commission to be the Executive and he wanted the Council of Ministers to be the Senate. No. No. No." Sir Geoffrey Howe, resentful since being ousted as foreign secretary, seized his moment to quit the cabinet, deliver a devastating resignation speech and invite challengers for the leadership. The following day, Michael Heseltine threw his hat into the ring. Falling two votes short of preventing the contest going to a second round, Margaret Thatcher declared she would fight on. Told by close colleagues, the famous "men in grey suits," that she would lose, she used her next cabinet meeting to announce her resignation.

Later, she mused bitterly: "It was treachery with a smile on its face." John Major was elected her successor and Margaret Thatcher returned to the back benches, finally standing down as an MP in 1992 when the Conservatives, against all predictions, were again returned to power. Later years She was elevated to the peerage as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire, receiving the Order of the Garter in 1995. She wrote two volumes of her memoirs while remaining active in politics, campaigning against the Maastricht Treaty and condemning the Serbian policy of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. She publicly endorsed William Hague for the Conservative leadership in 1997 but pointedly failed to speak in favour of his successor, Iain Duncan Smith. She continued to attend the House of Lords She was forced to curtail her activities in 2001 when her health began to deteriorate. After a series of minor strokes, her doctors advised her against making public speaking appearances and she appeared increasingly frail. She was also suffering from dementia which was affecting her short-term memory, something her daughter, Carol, would reveal in 2008.

When her husband Denis - whom she had described as her "rock" - died in 2003 aged 88, she paid him an emotional tribute. "Being prime minister is a lonely job. In a sense, it ought to be - you cannot lead from a crowd. But with Denis there I was never alone. What a man. What a husband. What a friend." A year later she travelled to the US to bid farewell to her political partner Ronald Reagan, whose funeral took place in Washington in June 2004. She continued to appear in public, perhaps most notably when she unveiled a bronze statue of herself in the House of Commons, the first time a living former prime minister had been commemorated in this way. And she returned to Downing Street. Gordon Brown invited her for tea, shortly after he became prime minister and she was back in 2010 as a guest of David Cameron, the new head of a coalition government. Legacy Few politicians have exercised such dominance during their term in office and few politicians have attracted such strength of feeling, both for and against.

To her detractors she was the politician who put the free market above all else and who was willing to allow others to pay the price for her policies in terms of rising unemployment and social unrest. Tory leadership battles: a history Tory leadership battles: a history Margaret Thatcher and Michael Heseltine Rozina Sabur 7 July 2016 • 5:06pm The recent drama during the Conservative leadership contest has increased interest in the machinations of political life – but treachery and devious double talk are nothing new in Westminster. Indeed, from David Cameron's immediate predecessors, four of the last six have faced leadership challenges. The current contest is between the Home Secretary Theresa May and energy minister Andrea Leadsom. Boris Johnson, widely tipped as a favourite for the job, chose not to stand after his campaign ally Michael Gove announced he was not made of leadership material - a move that has been described as the worst political treachery since Thatcher's time . A look back at the history of the Conservative Party's power struggles reveals other instances of political back-stabbing.

1965 (Ted Heath v Reginauld Maudling) The first formal election by the parliamentary party took place in 1965 when then Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home resigned. In previous years candidates had emerged through a consultation process, three of which were formally signed off by the Queen. However Douglas-Home's appointment, when he was a hereditary peer, had brought the system under fire. The plans for how the election would work were published in February 1965, and agreed upon by the parliamentary party thereafter. The contest between Edward Heath, Enoch Powell and Reginauld Maudling saw Heath become the first Conservative leader under the new system. Heath won by an outright majority. 1975 (Ted Heath v Margaret Thatcher) The 1975 leadership election was called by Heath to strengthen his authority after losing three general elections as leader but was won by Thatcher, considered the underdog candidate. Many expected Heath to win, with no serious rival, but Thatcher opted to stand and became the champion of unhappy backbenchers.

The first, and so far only, female to be elected as leader of a major party and a prime minister, she remained leader for 15 years and in power for 11 of them . 1990 (Margaret Thatcher v Michael Heseltine) One of the most memorable leadership elections in the history of the Conservative Party. Following a leadership battle the previous December, Thatcher lost a second contest in 1990 after her (and her government's) growing unpopularity over the poll tax. The relatively unknown Chief Secretary to the Treasury at the time, one John Major, was next in line as both Chancellor Nigel Lawson and Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe had resigned following disputes with Thatcher over economic advisors and Britain's relationship with Europe . Howe's devastating resignation speech in the Commons was widely regarded as the nail in the coffin for Thatcher's leadership.

Describing her position on Britain's interests in Europe, he famously said: "It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease only for them to find, the moment the first balls are bowled, that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain." Soon after, pro-European MP Michael Heseltine announced that he would challenge Thatcher for the leadership of the party. Thatcher stood down after she failed to win outright in the first round of the contest. Douglas Hurd and Major then threw their hats into the ring. Despite Heseltine being regarded the likely successor, Major won more votes, prompting Heseltine and Hurd to withdraw. 1995 (John Major v John Redwood) After facing heavy criticisms Major resigned as leader, daring critical MPs to “put up or shut up”, only to be re-elected in the subsequent leadership contest. The party had become deeply divided on the Europe question and there were rumours Major's leadership would be challenged. To put an end to the rumours and speculation, Major called a leadership election, standing against the Eurosceptic John Redwood - the only MP to run against him.

Major won a convincing enough majority that, despite their heavy defeat in the 1997 general election, he did not face another challenge. However, he chose to resign having presided over disputes within the party over Europe, the Black Wednesday crisis and the image of sleaze that engulfed his government. A young William Hague was then promoted to the Cabinet, filling Redwood's post as Welsh Secretary. 1997 (William Hague v Ken Clarke) The leadership election triggered by Major's resignation saw Hague, a newcomer to the Cabinet, take on prominent MP Ken Clarke for the leadership . John Redwood, Peter Lilley and Michael Howard lost out in earlier rounds, and the backing of Howard and Thatcher saw Hague secure the position. Others who might have entered the fray did not either because they had lost their seats in the election, such as Michael Portillo, or as in the case of Heseltine, because of ill health. In 1998 the leadership election process changed again to the current system whereby Conservative MPs vote to whittle down the hopefuls to two candidates, who the whole party membership then choose between. An incumbent leader can still be ousted by a no-confidence vote of MPs.

2001 (Ken Clarke v Iain Duncan Smith) Hague resigned after a poor performance from his party in the 2001 general election, triggering a leadership contest. This was the first to be held under the 1998 amended party rules. Five MPs put themselves forward. They were Michael Ancram, seen as a likely successor to Hague's direction; David Davis , the outside candidate with less experience; Kenneth Clarke, who was more pro-Europe; Iain Duncan Smith, seen as representing the Thatcherites of the party; and the more socially liberal Michael Portillo. Portillo, initially seen as quite likely to win, in the end lost out to Clarke and Duncan Smith in the final ballot by a single vote. Duncan Smith won the three-month contest with 60 per cent of party members voting for him, despite only gaining around a third of MPs' votes in the early stages. 2003 (Michael Howard v Michael Howard) After a two relatively unhappy years for the party, a vote of no confidence was passed in Duncan Smith by his MPs. He stood down as leader and Michael Howard was suggested by some Tories as a replacement. As no other MPs came forward, he was elected unopposed.

The board of the Conservative Party decided not to have that ratified by the party membership. 2005 (David Cameron v David Davis) After two years as leader Howard announced he would be stepping down . The ensuing contest between Clarke, Liam Fox, David Davis and a relatively junior David Cameron was whittled down to the latter two. Davis and Cameron were then selected as the two candidates for the membership to vote on. Davis, was seen as the clear favourite but his speech at that year's party conference shifted the tide of opinion in favour of Cameron, who impressed with his speech and was seen as a younger and more energetic candidate. This coupled with support from previous leaders Hague and Howard saw him scoop 68 per cent of members' votes. Follow Telegraph News News latest 23 Dec 2016, 9:21pm BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Blair praises 'magnificent' Heath Blair praises 'magnificent' Heath Heath's political life Sir Edward Heath was a man of "vision, principle and integrity", Tony Blair said in a tribute to the former Tory leader, who has died aged 89. Mr Blair, who was leading House of Commons tributes to Sir Edward, said: "He was magnificent ...

a prime minister our country can be proud of." Business in the Commons and Lords has been cancelled to allow the tributes. Tory leader Michael Howard said: "Today we remember a prime minister who was a most distinguished parliamentarian." Lady Thatcher, who replaced him as Tory leader, earlier said "we are all in his debt". He represented the sensible wing of the Tory Party Denis Healey, former Labour chancellor Send your tributes "Ted Heath was a political giant. He was also, in every sense, the first modern Conservative leader - by his humble background, his grammar school education and by the fact of his democratic election. "As prime minister, he was confronted by the enormous problems of post-war Britain. If those problems eventually defeated him, he had shown in the 1970 manifesto how they, in turn, would eventually be defeated. "For that, and much else besides, we are all in his debt." Sir Edward, who was knighted in 1992, won his first seat for the Tories in Bexley in 1950.

'Magisterial disdain' He led the Tory government as prime minister between 1970 and 1974, and was responsible for bringing Britain into what was then the European Economic Community, before losing the leadership of the Conservative Party to Margaret Thatcher in 1975. Mr Howard said Sir Edward was a "political giant" In the Commons Mr Blair told MPs how Sir Edward could be "very blunt", but "once you got to know him, very kind". He drew laughter when he told how he first met Sir Edward in the 1980s. "He said: 'Are you an MP?' 'Yes,' I said. 'Which party?' 'Labour,' I said. 'Well you don't look like it or sound like it,' he said. He was an extraordinary man, a great statesman, a prime minister our country can be proud of. We shall miss him Tony Blair Tony Blair's tribute Mr Blair said Sir Edward "would fill the House. I can picture him now, often speaking without a note, with humour, incisive argument and magisterial disdain for the opposing view, swatting away anyone ill-judged enough to make a hostile intervention".

Quoting former Labour Chancellor Roy Jenkins, a friend of Sir Edward, Mr Blair added: "He was a great lighthouse which stands there flashing out beams of light, indifferent to the waves which beat against him. "That was indeed how he was - an extraordinary man, a great statesman, a prime minister our country can be proud of. We shall miss him." Fearless Mr Howard described Sir Edward as one of the "political giants" of the 20th Century, who had made an "historic contribution" to Britain. He said Sir Edward was "fearless in his views, and rock-like in his integrity, and who always sought to serve his country to the very best of his ability". Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said: "Where Sir Edward was concerned on both a very human level and equally a statesmanlike level, he was a gifted man, a very good man and indeed a very great man ...we miss him very much." Sir Edward's former colleague Lord Walker said history would "give him a high rating", adding he was a "very great man and an enormous patriot". Former Labour Chancellor, Denis Healey, said he had been friends with Sir Edward for many years after meeting him at Oxford University.

Tony Benn said he was "to the left of Tony Blair" "He represented the sensible wing of the Tory Party," he told BBC Radio Five Live. Sir Edward's former political secretary Lord Hurd said: "He got us into the European Union. That was a huge step, a very difficult one, which I doubt would have happened without his particular kind of thoroughness and determination." He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Sir Edward had been the first prime minister to confront trade union power - a move that Margaret Thatcher took note of and learned from. He was a great friend. He was a man of utmost integrity. You couldn't imagine Ted Heath doing anything dishonourable Lord Carrington However, Lord Hurd said Sir Edward had been someone who was "terrific to work for", but who lost interest in politics towards the end. "He was much more interested in places he'd been to, people, sailing, music - those were the things that still caught his attention," he said. Lord Carrington, who was energy secretary in Sir Edward's Cabinet, said: "He was a great friend. He was a man of utmost integrity.

You couldn't imagine Ted Heath doing anything dishonourable." But Lord Carrington said his wife and he had found Sir Edward a "very lonely" man after they had lunch with him 10 days ago. 'A radical' Former Tory Chancellor Lord Howe said Ted Heath was a "man of great commitment and energy". Ex-Labour MP Tony Benn, who became good friends with Sir Edward said: "He was a far greater figure than Mrs Thatcher. She did enormous damage and his analysis of what she did was correct." Sir Edward, seen with prime minister Harold MacMillan, retired in 2001 Sir Edward never forgave Mrs Thatcher for ousting him as leader and refused to serve in her Cabinet. When asked in a TV interview if it was true that when Mrs Thatcher was herself deposed he said "rejoice, rejoice," he joked: "I think I said it three times." Ex-Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe said Sir Edward would be "sadly missed". "In view of the widespread opposition to the common market among Conservatives at the time it took courage, integrity and sheer guts from Edward Heath to bring the Tory Party round," he said.

In or out, Cameron's EU referendum may leave a toxic legacy | Michael White | Politics | The Guardian In or out, Cameron's EU referendum may leave a toxic legacy The history of the political device loved by populists is not a happy one. In Scotland, it has created divisions and one-party rule PM David Cameron on a campaign bus in Bristol. Photograph: WPA/Getty Images Wednesday 22 June 2016 09.53 EDT Last modified on Friday 7 October 2016 05.13 EDT Share on Messenger Close Why is it that a referendum campaign feels so different from the mood of a general election: more impassioned, more in your face, more bitterly divisive? I felt uneasily the same covering Scotland’s 2014 campaign on independence from England, less so 41 years ago during Britain’s first Brexit ballot in 1975 over its barely dry membership of what we all called the Common Market. Yet the parallels are eerily striking.

A prime minister, then Labour’s Harold Wilson , now Tory David Cameron, used a contentious device, abused by dictators in the 30s, to try to heal a divided party and do so after a pretty bogus “renegotiation” of British terms. Wilson won and was gone from No 10 within a year. What will be the less nimble Cameron’s fate? Ruth Davidson enjoys her Nicola Sturgeon moment in EU debate Read more Any answer to 2016’s “why different?” needs to separate out two distinct strands. One is the differing functions of an election – to choose a government for five years – and a referendum – to decide a single issue, possibly forever. The other is the very changed circumstances in which Britain now lives, both better and in some ways worse than in 1975. Even that doesn’t quite cover the variables, does it? Many voters have probably already forgotten that Britain had a referendum as recently as five years ago – Nick Clegg’s doomed attempt to “reform” Westminster’s first-past-the-post voting system with the controversial alternative vote method.

This wishy-washy compromise, nominally supported by Ed Miliband’s Labour opposition, was defeated by a thumping 2 to 1 on a miserable 42% turnout, and soon forgotten. Given the political battles that were to come – the 1979 and particularly 1983 elections – why was 1975 relatively benign? Because tectonic plates of economic globalisation were only starting to shift under the old Britain. Nor had Thatcherism’s “free market liberation” message, proclaimed via the raucous Sun, yet replaced old-fashioned deference and the class solidarity of the factory with what one Labour MP would later call “shell suits and rottweiler” individualism. Pinterest PM Harold Wilson at the referendum polling station in London, June 1975. Photograph: Keystone/Getty Images Social media? That was what people did over the garden wall. 24/7 TV? Only three channels in 1975, colour was still a novelty and the then PM, Ted Heath, had forced them all to go off air at 10.30pm during the three-day week to save striking miners’ coal stocks.

Stoical wartime Britain accepted it, as 2016’s Twitter Britain would not. In 1975 most of Labour and the unions were still in a “socialism in one country” mentality. The TUC giant Jack Jones railed against Europe as full of Catholics; Peter Shore, a strong pro-Commonwealth minister, invoked “British farms in Canada” and Kiwi butter. Tony Benn, still predicting a win on polling day, was in hock to the siege economy crowd whose cause has failed so often since. Against them were almost all the newspapers, plus the new Tory leader, Margaret Thatcher (and her defeated rival, Ted Heath), most of Wilson’s cabinet, plus the SDP-to-be Gang of Four – Roy Jenkins and co – for all of whom Europe was the key to modernisation. They rolled over the Brexiteers.

Exclusive: Nato chief says UK staying in the EU is key to fighting terrorism Read more Perhaps that’s why Cameron’s cursory look at the history books (the Cameroons treat strategy as if it was an overdue essay for an Oxford tutor, someone quipped) gave him the impression he could easily concede an indy referendum to the SNP and win a binary in/out question with no “devolution max” third option. Fired up with passion and a belief that independence could solve Scotland’s problems at little or no cost to voters (“Do you want to belong to one of the richest countries in the world?”), the yes campaign gave a complacent Downing Street the fright of Dave’s young life and got within a few per cent of victory in 2014. All this despite a falling world oil price shredding SNP maths in the background. Yet, as with the Brexit debate, some nationalists feel so strongly about “sovereignty” that they would “rather be poor and free than rich and enslaved”, as the leave EU columnist Melanie Phillips wrote in hyperbolic terms this week. But the real price was deepening divisions in Scotland and creating a scary degree of one-party dominance and intolerance. It is widely denied, but also evident.

Win or lose, will that be the toxic legacy for the rest of Britain after Thursday’s verdict is known? Short of a decisive win for one side or the other – polls suggest a tight finish – it seems likely. Things have been said on both sides that may be forgiven, but not forgotten. Pinterest Boris Johnson (left) campaigns at Billingsgate fish market in London. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Can Cameron’s intended reconciliation cabinet reshuffle really put Michael Gove and Boris “Trump” Johnson around the coffin-shaped table as if nothing has happened? Even that assumes he will scrape home on Friday morning, as most smart money – and the crafty bookies – still expect. Defeated, he will start to look like the careless, over-confident leader who took a gamble and lost both Europe and Scotland, the most disastrous British prime minister since Lord North lost George III’s American colonies in 1783. So he may face an early challenge for the Tory leadership. But by whom? Cameron has always been luckier than he deserves, not least in enemies like shifty Boris Johnson and feeble Jeremy Corbyn, whose ambiguous support for remain (his heart remains with Tony Benn and Hugo Chavez) is unlikely to bring him electoral reward.

Corbyn’s barely visible campaign does not deserve it. Even Labour voters think the referendum a blue-on-blue affair, Eton v Eton. Playing the immigration card to drive the Brexit campaign forward, Leave.EU is Brexit’s provisional wing. In victory or defeat, its Ukip faction may be better placed to harvest disaffected working-class votes in the future than vegetarian and bearded Islington pacifism. Yet Cameron is lucky too in Nigel Farage, an arsenic and Marmite politician who fails to win elections except the EU way. It’s personal, Nigel. Jeff Mitchell's best photograph: ‘These people have been betrayed by Ukip’ Read more Donald Trump has shown that a more talented demagogue with even fewer scruples could do serious damage to Britain’s famously adaptable political system in times of such uncertainty, but only if he or she first captures a major party as Trump has (for the moment) done. Who first called Johnson “Britain’s Berlusconi”? He is the only visibly charismatic talent, the political equivalent of disruptive technology, Boris the Uber app. Hardcore Brexiteers were never reconciled by decisive defeat in 1975.

Though Labour changed sides under Neil Kinnock, the Tories moved the other way as the deposed Thatcher unleashed her rage against “the Belgian empire”. Tory Euro-feuds in the 90s cost the party power and ensured Labour remained disciplined in office for 13 years. When discipline goes, anything goes. How best can Britain both prosper and pull its international weight? How best to help its struggling European neighbours locked into a flawed eurozone model which Britain declined? Europe or the open sea, as Churchill once put it in a grander context? Many on both sides sincerely think they have the answer. Whoever wins, they had better be more right than wrong. Britain now lives on a much slimmer margin of error even than in imperial 1940 and voter margins of tolerance are slimmer than they seemed to be when the referendum campaign started. • This article was amended on 24 June 2016. An earlier version incorrectly described the alternative vote system for electing members of parliament as a form of proportional representation.

BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | First 100 days: Margaret Thatcher First 100 days: Margaret Thatcher "Have the Tories boobed over Margaret Thatcher?" asked one tabloid newspaper in June 1975. MARGARET THATCHER Age when elected: 49 Defeated rivals: Edward Heath, Hugh Fraser, William Whitelaw, Sir Geoffrey Howe, James Prior, John Peyton The honeymoon period was certainly over by the time the Iron Lady notched up 100 days as Conservative leader. Her election, in February 1975, had been greeted in all sections of the press with enthusiasm, - despite confusion in some quarters as to what she actually stood for ("The truth is that Mrs Thatcher is a totally unknown factor," wrote The Sunday Telegraph). She was, after all, the first female leader of a British political party. But after an initial burst of activity, which saw her touring the country attacking Labour's "Socialist bunglers", she was soon being attacked for being too low profile. "On both sides of the House there is a feeling that the leader of the Opposition should be heard more frequently," said The Evening Standard. Tough enough?

She was attacked for taking a back seat - and declaring an effective truce with Labour - during the referendum campaign on Britain's membership of the EEC. Come alive, Mrs T. Exercise your lungs. Or at the next general election the people whose votes you want will ask: Margaret WHO? The Sun Despite enthusiastically supporting Britain's entry, on paper at least, she allowed her predecessor, Ted Heath, to take the lead on the issue - a decision she later confided to the Daily Mail's Anthony Shrimsley, that may have been an "error of judgement" on her part. Asked by Shrimsley if she was being tough enough on Mr Wilson in general, she said: "You are up against two feelings. Some want blood and some complain that there is too much clash between party leaders." It may have been shrewd politics for Mrs Thatcher to keep her powder dry during the European debate and avoid "Punch and Judy" combat in the Commons, but it did little to silence her critics. Labour MPs cried "Who is she?" as she stood up to speak in the Commons. "The Lady Vanishes," grumbled The Sun, in an editorial.

"She has been driving a growing number of Tory MPs to quiet despair by her half-heartedness about taking up a frontline position in the economic war. First she dithered about doing her stuff in the Commons economic debate. Then she made a disappointing, utterly forgettable speech. Now she has gone stone cold dead on the Market." 'Come alive' The paper added: "Fortunately the leadership gap is being filled by Edward Heath and William Whitelaw, whose inspired campaigning on the Market puts their part-time boss to shame. "Come alive, Mrs T. Exercise your lungs. Or at the next general election the people whose votes you want will ask: Margaret WHO?" The Daily Telegraph took a more considered view, urging Tory MPs to stick with their new leader, hailing her efforts to halt the party's drift "away from the view that private competition and self-help are the norm". Mrs Thatcher should be supported in her efforts to promote middle class values and end the "proletarialinising of the middle classes," it said. "No one can deny that she has shown tolerance and breadth of outlook in choosing her Shadow Cabinet and has encouraged free debate within the party's ranks.

"But it is equally important that the new direction of party policy should be made boldly and unequivocally clear. Above all she is entitled to that personal loyalty which for years was so strongly claimed and on the whole given to Mr Heath." What happened next: Margaret Thatcher went on to win three successive General Elections, transforming Britain. She never lost a General Election - she was forced to resign as prime minister in 1990 by Tory MPs. The politics of referendums - BBC News BBC News By Shaun Ley Presenter, BBC Radio 4's The Referendum Question 31 March 2011 Image caption Margaret Thatcher's choice of sweater made her position clear in 1975 Philip Larkin observed that sexual intercourse began in 1963. Many people believe Britain was similarly behind the times in forming a relationship with the referendum, not taking the plunge until 1975. Both are wrong. Larkin, of course, was being ironic; and until I started working on The Referendum Question, I was one of the ignorant, plumping for the vote on whether to stay in what was then the EEC as Britain's first referendum.

In fact, nearly a decade before people were asked to vote "oui" or "non", some were deciding "wet" or "dry". The first referendum in the UK was in Wales. The question posed was whether pubs should be able to sell alcohol on a Sunday? These votes were conducted district by district. Not good for business in Llandudno, apparently, where visitors would de-camp en masse to neighbouring Colwyn Bay, which opted for Sunday opening ahead of the resort next door. The 1975 vote on Europe was the first across the UK, though, and the one in May on whether to adopt the alternative vote instead of first-past-the-post to elect MPs will be only the second. Platform tension So politicians can find them a bit uncomfortable. Whilst Shirley Williams enjoyed working with Ted Heath and Jeremy Thorpe in the 'Yes' campaign in 1975 - and Margaret Thatcher, the new Conservative leader, was cutting a dash in a jumper covered in European flags - Tony Benn refused to share a platform with Enoch Powell, even though both were campaigning for a 'No' vote.

Image caption Rock star Bono took centre stage at a key moment during the 1998 Good Friday referendum The tension in the AV referendum between Labour leader Ed Miliband and his Liberal Democrat opposite number Nick Clegg illustrates how little experience politicians have of this way of working. It is less surprising that in 1979, Labour and the SNP found it hard to co-operate in the 'Yes' camp on the referendum on Scottish devolution; both knew a general election was probably only weeks away. By tradition, Labour politicians have been sceptical about the referendum. They associate it with fascist politics, a way of stirring the passions of the populace. So why have Labour governments made so much use of them? Resolving disputes Often as a way of resolving internal party disputes. Harold Wilson opted for one in 1975 because even his cabinet was divided on whether to remain in Europe. Let the people decide is a good slogan, but it usually translates as let the people get us out of the mess we've got ourselves into.

Image caption Sean Connery took to the campaign trail during the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution In 1979, it was the opponents of devolution who forced the government to hold a referendum rather than relying on a parliamentary vote. As recently as March of this year, a referendum was held in Wales on the powers of its Assembly. This was the result of a compromise several years ago to get sceptical Labour MPs at Westminster to support changes in the political system in Wales. It's not just the Left which has worried about the use of the referendum though. Conservatives inspired by the philosophy of Edmund Burke regard Parliament as sovereign. So each UK referendum has tended to be advisory, requiring MPs to endorse or reject the result. But should they rubber stamp a referendum when most of the voters don't bother to take part? Extra hurdles In 1979, MPs didn't think so. They added an extra hurdle to the referendum on devolution: unless 40% of the eligible electorate went to the polls, the result would not be valid. Sounds fair. But, as ever, there was politics behind it.

Anti-devolutionists knew that the effect was to enfranchise those who couldn't be bothered to vote; in effect, their absence added to the 'no' votes. Their defence was that creating a Scottish Parliament was too important a change to make without substantial public support. Image caption Politicians from different parties have had to think carefully who they share a platform with The result in 1979 was that although more people voted 'yes' than 'no' in that referendum, the low turnout invalidated the result. The argument surfaced again this year in the House of Lords when a group of peers sceptical about changing the voting system argued - unsuccessfully - for a similar hurdle in next month's vote. There is an irony here. Those who favour the present voting system for elections to the Westminster Parliament say its virtue is its simplicity; that a winner is a winner, even if they do so by only one vote and have failed to win a majority of votes in their constituency. Yet, when it comes to the referendum, they don't think winning by one vote should be enough. Such paradoxes have been a feature of Britain's referendum politics over the last forty years.

It has been a story of stunts and secret deals, punctuated by wedding proposals and punch-ups, fought with shopping baskets and inflatable animals. The Referendum Question will be broadcast on BBC Radio Four on Saturday 2 April at 2000 BST, repeated on Monday 4 April at 1500 BST. Against All Odds: How Margaret Thatcher Won the 1975 Tory Leadership Election (Kindle Single) eBook: Stephen Robinson: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store 5.0 out of 5 stars But it wasn't like that at all By C. Howse on 17 Feb. 2015 Forty years on, it can seem that Margaret Thatcher was an irresistible force inevitably rising to power, winning elections and leaving her imprint on Britain for the rest of the century and beyond. But it wasn't like that at all. It really was "Against All Odds" that she, a woman of her time, should have become Conservative leader. No one knows the background better than Stephen Robinson, an experienced political journalist with the knack of telling a story pithily and compellingly. And what an extraordinary story it is. If you are interested in finding out about the world of Margaret Thatcher, start here.

In Andrea Leadsom the Tories may have another formidable Thatcher | Politics | The Guardian In Andrea Leadsom the Tories may have another formidable Thatcher Michael White Introverts such as Theresa May tend not to do well in the PM’s job; politics is sometimes about the bold seizing the opportunity Theresa May, left, has shown courage in office. Andrea Leadsom may lack experience, but character and determination matter too. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images Friday 8 July 2016 06.08 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 07.50 EDT Share on Messenger Close An entrepreneurial friend who doesn’t usually follow politics closely, but is alarmed by Donald Trump and Brexit , said the other day: “Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel and Theresa May, that might work.” Good spot, though we can all see flaws in the scenario. Clinton may not beat the bouffant haired, billionaire “champion of the poor”. Merkel may soon lose office. As for the British home secretary and Tory leadership frontrunner, she may soon be beaten by a Home Counties rival who is fast reinventing herself as a rightwing populist .

How Andrea Leadsom can beat Theresa May Read more At least Andrea Leadsom is also a woman, so that bit of the equation holds. But how important is the gender question that grabbed so many overnight headlines after Michael Gove’s bizarre post-Boris candidacy rightly exploded , leaving two women in the runoff ? Obviously it’s more of an interesting coincidence now than the glass ceiling-breaking event it was 40 years ago when Margaret Thatcher first defeated Ted Heath to become Tory leader in 1975. She swept into Downing Street four years later for an 11-year stay, the first woman to hold such office in a G7 nation. Of course, there had already been female leaders in Scandinavia and in south Asia – notably India’s formidable Indira Gandhi , who was prime minister for all but three years from 1966 to 1984. So it’s a measure of how much has changed in so many countries that we can confidently view the prospect of another female Tory PM – much sooner than I imagined after Thatcher’s fall – in the hope that she will calm things down and cut out some of the macho boys’ stuff that can disfigure the public debate.

There’s also the small matter of negotiating Britain’s terms of withdrawal from the EU, the most daunting challenge facing a British prime minister for many years. It is both complex and highly technical, to be conducted under the scrutiny of mouthy populist politicians – here and across the Channel – and newspapers that neither understand nor care to understand what’s at stake. Economic or political scenery ( President Trump ? President Le Pen?) may be crashing in the background, too. Let’s hope not. All of which naturally inclines me towards May , who has been a quietly competent home secretary, sometimes brave, rarely flustered. When Ken Clarke was caught on camera calling her “bloody difficult”, he meant it as a compliment. In 2010 I thought May was lucky to get the fourth-ranking post in cabinet, but realised within a year I was wrong. So I was surprised, but only slightly, when I saw Yvette Cooper, until recently shadow home secretary, weighing into May’s record in Friday’s Guardian. It’s actually a pretty solid critique , especially on the narrowness of May’s social vision and tendency to disappear from view when there’s trouble.

The sad truth: Theresa May is bad, but the other Tory candidates are worse | Rafael Behr Read more But to vote is to choose, as Cooper discovered when Labour activists picked Jeremy Corbyn over her own somewhat lacklustre candidacy. Tory activists will now have to chose between May and Leadsom, not some more suitable female candidate who isn’t on offer. We’ll come back to Leadsom. As for May, from a personal, up close observation, I would only make a couple of points. One is that I have seen her addressing “women in politics” sessions at Tory conferences long after they had served her own purposes. Good for you, I thought, not an opportunist or cynic. And as Tory chairman in 2002 she gave the “nasty party” warning, which was brave. So, too, was her attack on the Police Federation and other shortcomings of the boys in blue. The police do a difficult, sometimes dangerous, job in our ever more complex, diverse and stressed society. They deserve the support of politicians, but not uncritical support.

The Fed has been way out of line in all sorts of ways and better qualified judges than me say its boss class is retreating from promises of greater accountability and openness following successive scandals. Courage is always attractive. But the PM’s job, as Gordon Brown found to his cost, is about a much more public, more 24/7 shop-window style of politics. Introverts don’t do well in the job. Ask Brown or Heath, if he was still alive. May is clearly quite an introvert. What about Leadsom then? MPs and pundits are piling in with their usual boisterous enthusiasm. But I’d urge caution at this stage because we don’t know much about her and what we do know is confusing. I was alarmed when Stephen Crabb was promoted from Wales to be post-IDS work and pensions secretary and suddenly spoken of as No 10 material. I don’t know him at all. In 1997 I managed a lunch with another Welsh secretary, William Hague, just before he made his rash bid for the Tory leadership (it was rash because it succeeded and derailed his career). But I missed Crabb.

Fortunately, I did spot Leadsom and took her to the press gallery lunch where the guest speaker, John Major, warned the Cameroons against forgetting the respectable, lace-curtain poor. How right, Sir John! She struck me as smart and personable, with a willingness to take on powerful witnesses. Publication of Andrea Leadsom's CV prompts new questions about her career Read more I never imagined I was inflicting a modest press gallery lunch on the next PM and still can’t believe it. Two things currently trouble me. Elected an MP only in 2010 she has clearly changed her position fast from a reformist EU remainer to Brexit, for what look like reasons of personal calculation – a better-groomed version of Boris Johnson’s stunt, you might say. Second, she has also dressed up her CV as a City banker in significant ways , acts of commission as well as omission. That’s a disturbing pointer, but might not matter so much if it didn’t chime with Brexit’s misleadingly dressed-up campaign in which she was so heavily involved. In that context trying to outflank May over EU residency rights in the UK also seems both shabby and opportunist.

But my advice is to keep an open mind and see what turns up. Leadsom lacks experience, yet character and determination matter, too. Politics is sometimes about the bold seizing an opportunity, as Thatcher did in 1975. Tory activists, on whose stooped shoulders the burden of decision falls, may soon indulge themselves by electing another Jeremy Corbyn . There again, distasteful though you may think it, they may be picking another formidable Thatcher. Lessons from the past for the losing Miliband | The Independent UK Politics Lessons from the past for the losing Miliband Defeated leadership candidates either take it on the chin &ndash; or to heart. Ben Chu offers a guide for today's runner-up Friday 24 September 2010 23:00 BST Click to follow Lessons from the past for the losing Miliband 1/3 Getty Images John Prescott (defeated by Tony Blair in 1994) The former merchant navy steward and trade union official came trailing in well behind Tony Blair in the leadership election held after the death of John Smith. But Prescott was never a serious candidate. The only viable challenger to Blair would have been Gordon Brown, who decided not to run.

Prescott was elected deputy leader and in 1997 was given a vast department that embraced transport, the environment, local government and housing. He punched a protester who threw an egg at him in the 2001 general election, had an affair with his secretary, and was photographed playing croquet at Dorneywood in 2006, compromising his man of the people image. What might have been if Prescott had prevailed in 1994? If anyone was capable of snatching Labour defeat from the jaws of victory in 1997, it was surely him. William Whitelaw (defeated by Margaret Thatcher in 1975) Tory grandee and former Northern Ireland minister, Whitelaw had been loyal to Edward Heath and only stood in the 1975 leadership ballot after Margaret Thatcher unexpectedly beat Heath in the first round. He was crushed by Thatcher in the second round. Whitelaw went on to serve her as loyally as he had served her predecessor. Thatcher was so grateful for his support, both as Home Secretary and then as leader in the Lords, that she remarked: "Every Prime Minister needs a Willie".

What if Whitelaw had won in 1975? It is possible that there would have been no Thatcherite revolution, although some sort of confrontation with the trade unions was probably inevitable. It has also been suggested that the Thatcher government became more extreme after he left her side in 1987 (after suffering a stroke). Aneurin Bevan (defeated by Hugh Gaitskell in 1955) The son of a Welsh miner who went down the pits himself aged 13 and rose up through the South Wales Miners' Federation. Bevan was Clement Attlee's Health Secretary in 1945, and the driving political force behind the establishment of the National Health Service. He resigned from the Government in 1951 over the introduction of prescription charges, which he felt breached the principle of health services being free at the point of use. Bevan was defeated by Hugh Gaitskell, the former Labour Chancellor in the leadership election that followed Attlee's resignation. After this defeat, Bevan went into internal opposition as leader of what became known as the "Bevanite left".

If Bevan had become leader there might have been less "Butskellism" - the left-right economic consensus for managing the economy, named after the Conservative Chancellor Rab Butler and the centrist Gaitskell. He rejected unilateral nuclear disarmament at the 1957 Labour Party conference, saying that giving up nuclear weapons "would send a British Foreign Secretary naked into the conference chamber". Denis Healey (defeated by Michael Foot in 1980) An erudite Labour right-winger and former Chancellor, Healey was the favoured candidate of outgoing Labour leader, James Callaghan. But Labour MPs instead lurched left and elected Michael Foot by a narrow margin. Healey became deputy leader and successfully saw off a challenge for that position from the hardline left-winger Tony Benn in 1981. But Healey was marginalised and eventually stood down as deputy leader following the 1983 election defeat. Healey is often spoken of as one of the best leaders Labour never had. If he had won the leadership in 1980 there might have been no "suicide note" Labour election manifesto in 1983.

But such were the left-right divisions in the Labour party during that era, that even Healey might have been unable to prevent a crisis. George Brown (defeated by Harold Wilson in 1963) A former trade union organiser and popular figure on the right of the party, Brown stood for a continuation of centrist economic policies after the death of Hugh Gaitskell in 1963. But he was beaten by Harold Wilson, who put Brown in charge of the new Department for Economic Affairs, intended to be a counterweight to the mighty Treasury, after Labour won the 1964 general election. Wilson's background was on the left of the party, but Labour did not take a left turn under his leadership. Wilson's great achievement was keeping his divided party together. Brown – or anyone else for that matter – would have found that an impossible job. And Brown's alcoholism and erratic behaviour would probably have made his reign much shorter than that of the man who beat him. Enoch Powell (defeated by Ted Heath in 1964) Brilliant scholar-politician from the Midlands. The former classics professor came a distant third in the 1964 leadership election.

And he went on to have an extraordinary influence on public life. He was appointed shadow defence secretary, but was sacked in 1968 when he delivered his anti-immigration "rivers of blood" speech. Powell"s visceral opposition to the Common Market at a time when his party was in favour of the European Economic Community also created tensions. He left in 1974, advising voters to support anti-European Labour candidates in the general election. Powell's admirers claim his Euroscepticism was ahead of its time. They also point to his early advocacy of monetarism to present him as a proto-Thatcherite. Michael Heseltine (defeated by John Major in 1990) Heseltine resigned from Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet in 1986, and his leadership challenge in 1990 prompted her fall. But Heseltine was ultimately defeated by John Major in the second round of the vote. A flamboyant entrepreneur and stirring speaker, Heseltine might have won more support in the country than Major. But he would probably not have not avoided the 1992 European Exchange Rate Mechanism debacle, which destroyed the Tory reputation for economic competence.

And Tory splits on Europe would have been just as damaging with this pro-European in charge. Kenneth Clarke (defeated by William Hague in 1997) Experienced and personable, Clarke is another dogged pro-European Tory. To make himself more acceptable to the eurosceptic Tory right, he teamed up with John Redwood in the 1997 Conservative leadership election, but to no avail. Conservative MPs chose William Hague (who was endorsed by Margaret Thatcher) and veered off to the right. Clarke's popular appeal and pragmatism might have spared the Tories 13 years of opposition, but it is likely that the party would still have been split over Europe. Clarke aimed twice more for the Tory leadership: in 2001, when he was defeated by the right-wing Iain Duncan Smith, and in 2005, when he lost out to David Cameron. He is now Justice Secretary in the Coalition and has challenged the traditional Conservative policy of locking up ever more criminals. More about:

Question: In UK politics, who defeated Ted Heath in the Tory leadership campaign of 1975?
Answer: Margaret Thatcher